Terror suspect Mohamed Abrini tells court he ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’

Mohamed Abrini, a terrorism suspect linked to attacks in Paris and Brussels, told an investigative judge in Brussels that he “wouldn’t hurt a fly”, French broadcaster BFMTV reported Thursday.

Abrini, who earlier confessed to Belgian prosecutors that he was the “man in the hat” caught on CCTV at Zaventem airport minutes before the March attacks, said that he had never been in Syria and denied being radicalized.

In his statement in court Abrini admitted that he had been hiding from police. He had changed houses several times and wore wigs to avoid being recognized.

He said that he has spent time hiding with Salah Abdelsam, a long-standing friend of Abrini and one of the Paris attacks suspects who was caught in Brussels on March 18.

Abrini was arrested on April 8 in Brussels. On Thursday, the detention of Abrini was extended with one month, the federal prosecutor said in an emailed statement.

Belgian prosecutors said DNA and fingerprints found at an ISIL safe houses in Brussels and in a car used in the Paris attacks matched Abrini’s. He was also seen on CCTV footage with Abdeslam at a gas station in France two days before the Paris attacks, prosecutors said.

This story was updated to include the prosecutor’s statement on the extension of his detention.